Question:
My ex-wife has a no contact order against me and is using it to deny my parenting time and any communication with my children.
Shouldn’t I be allowed to speak with and see my kids since the no contact order isn’t for them, it’s between my ex and I?
Answer:
A no contact order means no contact with the person who has the order, which in this case is your former spouse.
Unless it specifically says that you are to have no contact with your children, there is no reason for her to withhold them from you. A child has the right to support and parenting time with each parent.
Your state (Indiana) has a set of comprehensive parenting time guidelines for family court cases. The guidelines provide four remedies for enforcement of parenting time.
The first, contempt sanctions, allow the court to punish a party for unjustified violations of parenting time provisions. In order to use this remedy you must file a petition with the court.
The second, injunctive relief, allows you to file an application to enforce parenting time if you regularly pay child support.
The third, criminal penalties, makes it a crime to interfere with custody or visitation rights. You should contact a local prosecutor if you chose to pursue this option.
The fourth remedy allows you to have the other party pay your attorney fees if the court finds that you substantially prevailed and the other party knowingly or intentionally violated a parenting time order.
Short of using the power of the court, there is no way to compel another person to take action.
You should contact an attorney who is licensed in your state to further discuss the specifics of your situation. Cordell & Cordell does represent men in divorce in 18 states.
Jill A. Duffy is an Associate Attorney in the Troy, Mich., office of Cordell & Cordell. She is licensed to practice in the state of Michigan. Ms. Duffy received her BA in Psychology and Spanish and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Oakland University. She received her Juris Doctor from Michigan State University College of Law and graduated Magna Cum Laude.
What I don’t understand is why the courts loudly proclaim that child support and visitation are separate issues, but then require payment of child support as a precondition to enforce visitation.
This means that if you are involuntarily unemployed for any reason, the courts will not enforce your visitation rights until you pay Caesar all of the money that Caesar says that you owe!
In Indiana, Interference With Custody is a criminal offense, but I have yet to find a family court judge or local prosecutor with the …political courage to vigorously enforce visitation or to sanction a custodial parent for denying visitation.
The only sanction that my ex-wife ever receives for denying me access to my children is a verbal scolding by the family court judge, but she never changes her behavior.
What good are laws if they are not enforced when gender biased judges and prosecutors kowtow to special interest groups?
ps – yes, I’m aware that the politically correct term for child access is ‘parenting time’, but when gender biased judges order sole custody, and the non-custodial parent is treated as though they are a child support check who is allowed to visit with their children at the custodial parent’s whim, it’s visitation.